2/24/2013

On this deadly newsless Sunday, allow me to put in another plug for Russ Roberts’s “EconTalk” podcast. This time there’s a twist: Russ has interviewed someone you’re all familiar with . . . Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame. Listen here.

Glenn is in his element here, talking with a friendly like-minded libertarian about the ways that we can promote freedom in this country. The conversation hits points such as: how intrusive government has become; the fact that it will come to an end due to budgetary reasons, because “something that can’t go on forever won’t”; how a Constitutional Convention might restructure our polity; the idea of a third House of Congress designed to repeal bad laws; the Louis Seidman piece about giving up on the Constitution (Glenn’s reaction to this is priceless and worth the time to listen to); and Glenn’s music career. It’s far reaching and interesting. A great way to spend an hour of your time.

One thought that is occasioned by this comment Glenn made in the podcast:

Culture comes before politics. And politics come before law. So, I think that the culture has to change first.

This is a subject on many people’s minds lately: how can conservatives fight the tide of leftist thought that seems to be washing over the electorate? Prof. Reynolds has written a piece encouraging conservative billionaires to invest in things like women’s magazines, with the thought in mind that we could include the same articles that all the other women’s magazines publish, but instead of every tenth article being about how awesome Barack Obama is, that article could be about, say, how the tax system punishes women — or whether Obama’s White House is giving women equal pay.

Subtle stuff — but it’s pervasive.

A commenter writes to say they like the idea but they are concerned that conservatives will not invest in ventures that are clearly going to lose money (other than throwing money at losers like John McCain or Mitt Romney, of course). The commenter suggests, instead, an “Army of Davids” approach.

Are there folks out there who would be willing to contribute money to buy and operate ladies’ magazines and pop culture websites? My commenter suggests that the kids at College Insurrection could staff it, and could be tasked with coming up with ideas to appeal to young people. Folks like Prof. Jacobson and/or Prof. Reynolds could serve as consultants, and/or sit on a board of directors. My commenter adds: “it might be a place where young conservatives can intern, thus gaining experience in the media and someday increasing the number of conservatives in the media.”

Not a bad idea, huh? I think the key insight is this: we can’t sit around hoping for rich guys with wads of cash to swoop in and fix things for us. If we think the culture is a big issue, let’s do something about it.

I’m going to send this post to Profs. Reynolds and Jacobson and see what they think.

Things that make you go “Hmmm”. This would require a certain amount of knowledge of anonymous proxies, computer software to automate things, and insider political information from a local party, something a consultant might be able to gain.

This strategy is exactly what the “New Left” of the 60′s adopted when they could not influence the New Deal Left directly. The “long march through the institutions.”

And in the end, they ensconced themselves firmly into academia and the media, and it is going to take another long march to [peacefully] displace them. As things get more and more dire for the college cohorts this is inevitable. And the fossils of that era, propounding their Statist dogma, are going to be bewildered as all their old tricks are brought to bear against hem.

Toward the end of the podcast, Roberts asks Reynolds to respond to the suggestion (to ignore the Constitution) made by Seidman last week — and posted on by Patterico here. Reynolds’ response is priceless.

There isn’t a counter on the podcast, at least not that I see. But put the cursor halfway through and listen for the next 2-3 minutes. I’ll even give away the punch line: “I’m free to do whatever I want.”

Italian Right may eek out popular vote victory but Left maintains control of Senate.

My reading, reported some weeks back, of the SOI(Southern Oscillation Index) as being strong toward La Nina was just random noise. She’s banging around in neutral on the La Nina side but no move evident.

the heads and hands were found not far from Philly, and the only way I heard about it was by chasing a link from “BlogAds” to Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs website

she quoted a couple verses from the Koran about attacking the infidel “above the shoulders” and “cutting off all of his fingers”- apparently the murderer thought just doing the whole hand at once was the same

and they don’t report it, and when they do, some “wonder” if “it has anything to do with religion”-
that’s like asking if the blood gushing from the neck has anything to do with the mechanism of death

MD-GG–We lived in northern Jersey for a few years. (Mendham-Bernardsville areas of Morris County). It is absolutely gorgeous terrain. Small mountains, narrow windey roads loved by sports cars, forest, quaint villages with preserved 225 year old buildings and churches. Pretty nice people, too. When friends came to visit us from Chicago they were astounded at how nice it was.